Politics and Policy With a Punch

Browsing Category : Government

City of San Jose Deferred to 8/22: Disposition and Development Agreement, Lease Amendment, and related actions for Insight Realty’s Museum Place mixed-use project Staff are recommending deferral of this item to August 22, 2017, pending Council approval. Staff are recommending that Council take multiple actions related to development activity at West San Carlos Street and South Market Street at 180…

Alum Rock Union Elementary School District Contract with Fagen Friedman & Fulfrost Law Firm for legal service in response to FCMAT audit report The agreement would support ARUESD in responding to an audit report that found the district to be susceptible to fraud and misappropriation of funds due to close ties with a particular construction contractor. Board President believes this…

Last night, the Santa Clara City Council voted unanimously to enact a $15 minimum wage by 2019, three years before mandated by the State of California. Santa Clara joins Cupertino, Los Altos, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose and Sunnyvale in the first region-wide approach to raising the wage to $15 in the US, a concerted effort to ease…

City of Santa Clara Raising minimum wage to reach $15 by 2019; Mayor recommends one week deferral NOTE: Mayor Gillmor has released a memo recommending this item be continued one week to July 18 due to the length of the July 11 agenda. Staff are recommending that the Council pass to print an amended ordinance establishing the City’s local minimum…

Tomorrow, San Jose’s minimum wage is set to increase to $12, a $1.50 bump an hour for the City’s lowest paid workers. This increase is part of an effort that began in 2012 when San Jose residents voted to increase workers’ wages from $8 to $10. Then, in 2016, as surrounding cities were committing to raises wages at a rate…

Yesterday, the San Jose City Council voted to enter into an Exclusive Negotiation Agreement (ENA) with Google for the sale of the City-owned properties in the Diridon Station Area. Included as part of the ENA was the requirement that the developer implement a transparent community engagement process, which should include local residents, small businesses, faith-based and local organizations. Additionally, the…

City of San Jose Council Member Diep proposing “Shield our City” ordinance to require ICE agents to obtain permission from City Attorney before conducting enforcement actions in specified locations Councilmember Lan Diep is recommending that Committee members agendize the proposed “Shield Our City” ordinance for the June 6, 2017 City Council meeting, so that the Council may direct staff to…

Has the U.S. Constitution passed its useful life? There are certainly signs that it no longer effectively routes political disorder through democratic channels: Political and economic polarization have reached extreme levels and are worsening. Political parties are weak and have lost the ability to moderate political differences. The President rules by executive order, undermines democratic institutions, like the press, demonizes…

A bank put a northern California couple through what a U.S. bankruptcy judge called a “Kafkaesque nightmare” that caused them to lose their home and suffer medical problems due to the “brazen and heartless” behavior of bank employees after the family sought a loan modification for their house. A San Bernardino health clinic acted with “malice, fraud and oppression” when…